Mixed bag of weather damage and human tragedy

I'll be out mowing the rest of our fallen limbs soon. Yesterday, while Bill and I went to Schweitzer summer opening, another of those sneaky, violent winds blew in and caused much disorder to my lawn and garden. In fact, another moderate-sized Aspen top blew down smack dab on top of a shrub my sisters had given me for my birthday last week. I've gotta go out and see if there's any hope for the once-lovely bush to revive itself.

We heard about the "tornado-force" winds right after Bill had taken his free chair lift ride. Our plan was to meet somewhere on the trail after he'd found his geocache. Then, the black clouds appeared over the mountain. Then, came the lightning, rain, hail and thunder. Dozens of visitors were riding the chair while this was going on, and Bill had planned to come back that way but wisely chose to walk down.

Operators soon stopped the lift, which meant about 20 people were stranded on top. Cars and even an ambulance were sent to the top to retrieve them as they stood in the torrential rains. Bill eventually made it down the trail, soaked to the gills. But, he had found his geocache, so he was happy.

I started on the lawn clean-up last night, using my riding mower to drag the fallen tree off to Bill's wood pile in the pasture and mowing as much limb mess as I could before cold temperatures and frozen fingers drove me inward.

This morning, we're all feeling mixed emotions here in North Idaho after one of the highly-publicized missing brother-sister combo was found yesterday. Shasta Groene was spotted with a man in the Coeur d'Alene Denny's Restaurant at 2 a.m. yesterday morning. Alert patrons and staff recognized her and called the police who arrested the man and took Shasta (who was physically okay) to an area hospital.

I'm sure everyone following the events was sickened, after the initial relief, to learn that the man with Shasta was a convicted child predator with a substantial criminal history. He was wanted in Minnesota for another crime with a child. Later, the authorities announced that Shasta's brother Dillon was probably deceased. Shasta and her brother disappeared when her mother, her 13-year-old brother, and her mother's boyfriend were brutally murdered in mid-May in their home along I-90 east of Coeur d'Alene.

In our Inland Northwest region of late, we've been inundated with a full dose of lurid stories of child predators, pedophiles, abusers ---whatever you want to call them. In fact, the entire front page of today's Spokesman-Review dealt with the Spokane mayor who allegedly solicited sex with teenaged boys and yesterday's events associated with the Groene case.

I've continued to feel a silent, occasionally open rage toward these incidents and at the forgiving attitudes that many people extend toward these manipulating perverts--- in some cases actually embracing them, defending them and finding excuses for their predatory behavior toward innocent youngsters--- sentenced to live with the emotional effects of being so cruelly violated for the rest of their lives. It's extremely discomforting when more empathy is expressed toward the perpetrators than their victims.

As the investigation and sad details of this most recent event unfold, I wonder if, and sincerely hope, that some attitudes toward these animalistic, incurable predators will change.